So, I know that I've been slightly obsessed with Fisherman's Rib recently. I have been TRYING to knit a scarf in fisherman's rib for the last month, and sadly, I've had to re-start 3 or four times. This is due to the fact that every time I drop a stitch, I get so confused that I can't pick my stitches back up, and end up unraveling the whole thing.

So here are my two questions regarding fisherman's rib:

1) How do you correct a mistake/pick stitches back up?

AND

2) How do you decrease in fisherman's rib pattern? I want to make a simple fisherman's rib hat for my boyfriend, but all of the patterns I looked up don't use the knit 1 below, they use the YO & PSSO combination, and all of the decrease instructions I found were for a beret shaped hat, and I just want a beanie.

1) If you are having that much difficulty try using a lifeline. Thread some waste yarn through the stitches (parallel to the needle) when you succesfully finish a row. Then work a few rows, but don't knit the lifeline. Check and if your pattern is okay thread a new lifeline and take out the old. If you are wrong then you can frog back to the lifeline and easily pick up the stitches and try again.

1) If you are having that much difficulty try using a lifeline. Thread some waste yarn through the stitches (parallel to the needle) when you succesfully finish a row. Then work a few rows, but don't knit the lifeline. Check and if your pattern is okay thread a new lifeline and take out the old. If you are wrong then you can frog back to the lifeline and easily pick up the stitches and try again.

OMG how silly of me not to think of using a lifeline. That's the perfect solution. Thank you (you're a genius)!

I actually came across that site yesterday, and I found decreasing in brioche stitch, but it also said somewhere on the website that fisherman's rib and brioche stitch were in the same family of stitches, but not exactly alike. Can I use the decrease that they suggested for brioche stitch?

I use a knit 2 together through the back loop and it works pretty simply and effectively in fisherman's rib. You can even continue it for several decrease rows if needed (for example, in a hat). I usually start with a k into the st below stitch but I don't think you necessarily have too. It's a wonderful pattern for a scarf, good luck with it!